Introduction

*This guide was made by the collaboration of MassivePwner and LOLOL BYE, Who are nearly exclusive Twisted Treeline players and have played and beaten many of the top 20 3v3 Ladder teams.

Hey everybody! MassivePwner and LOLOL BYE here, In this guide you are going to find a range of tips, tricks and general advice for you to put into play in the League of Legends Twisted Treeline Map.

Before we begin, We have played Twisted Treeline from Level 1 through to Level 30 and have played ranked and beaten some of the TOP ranked 3v3 teams. We are open to any advice or questions you have on this guide, just leave a comment and we will try to answer as soon as possible.

Enjoy our guide!

*Note: This is a long read but has EVERYTHING you need to know to become a great 3s player

General Twisted Information

About Twisted Treeline

Twisted Treeline is a 2 Lane Map with a very condensed jungle.

The aim of Twisted Treeline is to be a fast paced, action filled map, with shorter game times and LOTS more fighting and action.

Contrary to popular belief, Twisted Treeline is a balanced map, It is simply misunderstood by most people who play Summoners Rift. Unlike Summoners Rift, The laning phase is very short and can end as early as level 6.

Game Phases

First Gank

Unlike in a lot of Summoner Rift games, There is almost always a First Gank in Twisted Treeline, All 3 players invade enemy jungle or the bottom/top brush and try and score first blood.

Here is a Map with some popular places, For you to be aware or be in one of those spots.
(Note-ALWAYS have something to check EVERY brush in First Gank Phase)

These are spots to gank all game. Red areas are where to fight and purple is how to get to a spot / waiting spots to fights.

Laning

Laning Phase is short, but vital. First Blood will give either lane fairly good lane control so if you can get it, It is worth it. Even sometimes if you die yourself.

A big thing about laning is last hitting!!

I know you have heard it 100 times but it is seriously so important. The faster you get the gold for the item you are after the faster you can go get it and start ganking.

Also; Do not be afraid to push your lane a little as long as mid is warded, Push your lane to the enemy tower then back off like you are noob waiting for another wave but go gank top. Towers steal a lot of cs from players under 1800 elo anyway.

moving into Early Game.

Early Game

Early Game is where the fun begins, This is the time to win a game. IF you win early game and just play passively for the rest, you will snowball and more often than not, win.

To get the advantage in early game you must farm like a demon during laning phase. Jumping in and out of the jungle is vital for that extra xp. This is were Wriggles Lantern comes in handy for AD characters.

The idea is to lane and jungle so often that the enemy assumes whenever you are not in the lane, you are jungling, that will allow you to catch their duo lane off gaurd for a 3v2 gank.

After 2-3 kills, keep farming and try push a tower if you can. Jungle is priority though.

DRAGON - Spawns at 4:30

AS SOON as Dragon spawns, group together and try and take him if the other team is not.

Dragon is worth 280g EACH + 25g to the killer (That's 865g to your team!) which is about 2 towers in gold. It's super vital for that extra edge.

Dragon then spawns 5mins after death so have 1 person on your team keep tabs on when it spawns.

Mid Game

After the initial laning and ganks and hopefully your early dragon, you want to stick fairly close to each other and continue laning + jungling trying to push ahead of them and farm, it is also a good idea to try force a team fight.

How to force a team fight:

Go to an area where you KNOW is warded (Usually Lizard or top jungle)

Have your squishy mage walk past the ward into a brush or your initiator just hang around the ward while your other 2 sit in the brush.

They will assume he is alone and out of position and group for a kill, as soon as they push in, the team fight has started.

Once you win the team fight, Get dragon if it is up. If not, Push a tower. The more towers you get in this phase the easier the game becomes.

Mid/Late Game

Hopefully now you should have both their lane towers down and hopefully one of their inner turrets. If you are in mid game DO NOT KILL THE INHIBITOR. It will only let Supers flow into the base and allow them to stay in their base and farm.

Only kill the inhib if you have time to push their center turret down as well.

Now is the time you want to farm up a little more, and keep their lanes pushed. Stay together once you are around level 15-16 at all times. and keep trying to force team fights if you are confident. This is the time you can lose a game.

From this point in the game, it takes 1 team fight to win or lose the game so choose them wisely.

Late Game

If the game gets to this point there is only a few things to do.

STAY TOGETHER

Be ready for a team fight at all times.
Clear the jungle, push the lanes and poke down towers getting into their nexus.

If you are losing, you need to evaluate their team, who would be better end game? You or them.

If it is them, You need to try and force them to fight under your tower and win and make some strong pushes, clearing the jungle on the way back. and get A LOT of farm on the minions they push at you.

If you are winning, you need to keep poking down their towers and only fight if you are SURE you will win. The tower is like an extra person so it's like a 4v3, if you are so fed you can win it, do it.

Hyper Late Game

It is anybodies game. An ace from either side means they can push and win even if you have all towers up.

Do not go off alone.

Do not start **** alone.

Camp a spot, Lure them to it, and Kill them. Play smart.

Team Composition

There are a few ways to build your team in Twisted Treeline, Here are a few of the more Popular Team Compositions.

Physical Carry

This team consists of an AD Carry (Tryndamere), An Interrupter (Amumu) and a Burst Caster (Malzahar)

This team is focused around the Physical Carry, The idea is to have a Burst Caster (Malzahar) Insta-Kill one of the opposing team members in a fight. While your Interrupter (Amumu) Protects Malzahar / Tryndamere.

The purpose of this strategy is to eliminate the opposing AD Carry and turn the fight into a 3v2 as early as possible, leaving your Burst caster safe and your AD carry free to destroy the other 2.

Other Options

Recommended Physical Carries:

Recommended Distrupters:

Recommended Burst Casters:

This is the recommended Twisted Treeline Team Comp.

AP Carry

This team consists of an AP Carry (Akali) a Tanky AP Character (Cho'Gath) and an AD (Xin Zhao)

This team is built around your AP carry, in this case Akali, Akali's job is to allow Cho'Gath to initiate and Xin to cause problems while she cleans up the kills, snowballing quite hard. This forces the other teams tanky characters to make a decision.

1, Damage?
2, Magic Resist?
3, Armour?

No matter what they pick, they lose.

If the opposition picks Damage, Then Akali and Xin can take them out VERY quickly with Cho'Gaths disruption.

If the opposition picks Magic Resist, Akali and Cho'gath take the focus while Xin cleans up and becomes fed (This is when you switch to the Physical Carry Strategy)

If the opposition picks Armor, Akali continues to snowball and your AP tank also does tons of damage.

Other Options

Recommended AD:

Recommended Distrupters:

Recommended AP Carry:

Double AD

The idea here is to get Udyr and Lee Sin into the jungle ASAP. Both with wriggles they will take all buffs as soon as they get up and put massive pressure on both lanes.

When a team fight rolls around, You want to have Malzahar Insta the AP Carry and then let the 2 AD Carries fight off the remaining 2 people.

'Standard Team'

This team is your standard team you will see most people in Twisted Treeline Ranked take, Consisting of a Jungler (Rammus) a solo top (Irelia) and a Solo bot (Jax). This is a viable strategy but it countered by the ones above, because of the following reasons

1, One of the Solo lanes will be heavily zoned (For more information on why this is safe even with jungle ganks please read the Laning section)

2, Having 2 people in a lane makes it more resilient to ganks.

3, Offers more security having back up in the same lane for the Duo laners.

Being a Twisted Caster

Being a Caster in Twisted Treeline is tough. With A LOT of damage being thrown around it is VERY easy for you to get caught in the crossfire and blow up in a second. Follow these rules and you should be fine.

Rules of a Caster

Rule 1: STAY IN THE BRUSH

What can't see you, can't hurt you. Stay un-seen AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. It is absolutely vital.
This will maximize your survivability and stop you from being jumped from a co-ordinated gank.

Rule 2: Behind the pack is where you belong

When roaming the forest with your team it is vital to stay back, staying in the brush 1-2s longer then the others and when a fight begins jump onto that AD carry with your ranged death combo of damage.

If you are at the front, You CAN NOT do this because you will take that initial damage and become a fast forgotten memory while your team is destroyed 2v3.

Rule 3: Learn who your target is and get him fast.

You have 2 Jobs as a Twisted Caster.

Do not die and Kill their AD. Learn who it is, what is abilities are, how he/she escapes and when he/she initiates. SHUT HIM DOWN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Rule 4: You are Fragile - Remember it.

You are like a dead leaf blowing in the wind. You will die if you try and be a hero, one stun, one fear and you can start counting down that death timer. Having this mind set will not only keep you safe, but make your enemies fear you.

Rule 5: Don't be a hero.

If your team has initiated our your AD carry has been caught by 3 of them 1 camp over. Don't storm in there like Leroy Jenkins and die along with him.

Throw what you can from a safe distance, a slow, a silence, a pool, anything, IF YOU CAN. Then Hi-Tail your *** out of there. 1 death is better then 2.

Being a Twisted Fighter

Being an Attack Damage carry requires much more mobility and multitasking the being the caster. By that I mean it is the AD's job to control jungle, place wards (due to their higher cs from jungling), keep a timer on drag and all neutral buffs, protect the squishies and will be the main force behind destroying towers. That's a lot to handle so let's look at those individually.

Jobs of a Fighter

Job 1: CONTROL THE JUNGLE

A huge mistake a lot of people make is that champion kills is the deciding factor of who is winning a game. That is wrong, creep score is extremely important. Killing a champion earns you about 300 gold, that's 2 minion waves or top jungle excluding dragon. Now killing champions isn't a guarantee and you should by all means try your best for that 300 gold, but minion kill availability is a guarantee and if timed correctly you can pick up that gold for yourself and your team periodically and soundly.

Job 2: PLACE THOSE WARDS

Pretty self explanatory, see ward section

Job 3: TIME NEUTRAL CREEPS

Dragon is the most important creep and has been the deciding factor to countless 3s games. See dragon section.

Dragon

Spawns at 4:30 and will re-spawn every 5 minutes.

Red Buff

Spawns at 2:30 and will re-spawn every 4 minutes.

Grey and Green Buffs

Spawn at 2:30 and will re-spawn every 3 minutes.

Lesser creep camps

Spawn at 1:30 and will re-spawn every 75 seconds.

Job 4: PROTECT THE SQUISHY

This doesn't mean standing directly on top of your ap and attacking anyone who targets them. This means using any cc you have to make sure their burst doesn't reach the squishy. However, between protecting your burst and theirs, it is most often more important to protect yours.

Job 5: PUSH TOWERS

Simple enough, learn to judge how much damage you can do to a tower before the enemy team gets there or re-spawns. It is okay to harass towers when a creep wave reaches them but you MUST know your limits and keep in mind how much mobility they have compared to yourself. I can't tell you how many times I've re-spawned, flashed wall, and kill the enemy champ trying to destroy top tower.

Draft Mode (Picks and Bans) for Ranked

Twisted Treeline DOES require particular bans in Draft mode; Here is some we have found particularly useful.

Bans

Popular Bans as of 08/31/2011
Why;
Like Renekton, Irelia is a tanky DPS and they seem to rule 3v3 maps because of their mobility and difficulty to kill. She is banned a lot in higher games but isn't much trouble pre 1600.RECOMMENDED BAN
He is a perfect AP caster for Twisted Treeline. He can jump in from an unseen position and his ult with some CC can change fights. RECOMMENDED BAN!
This guy will 3v1 your team. His passive also gives him BIG health so a single defense item has bit benefits. He is however countered by a heavy AP team (Or the AP Carry team) as he can't dodge abilities. RECOMMENDED BAN
This guy can lane forever, Jungle forever, or just gank you over and over. His pocket smite gives him great jungle control and control of the game. His ult requires somebody to CC him leaving 1 less thing to stop his AD carry with later. He's a GREAT Pick. So ban him.
Unkillable. Godmode. Annoying. Ban him or lose.
Spin to win. He can spin on your team and do BIG AoE damage to your AP and your AD and is very hard to distrupt. He gets quite tanky too so again, It's a good idea to ban this guy. - RECOMMENDED BAN

Tryndamere and Mordekaiser are MUST bans for Pre 1500 elo or if you don't know how to counter them, they are extremely hard to stop once farmed and if you don't think you can stop them farming, don't let them play. (If you can shut down their farm they are useless so don't bother banning them)

Why;
Tryndamere is a HARD COUNTER to the Physical Carry Strategy, He can get focused, then has 5 seconds of god mode to kill your AP Carry and weaken your AD carry to even the fight. A long with his INSANE mobility he is a MUST BAN
Mordekaiser is an *******. The more people around him, the harder he is to kill. He gets some GOOD damage off while still being very tanky and can melt your team if not focused, but if he is focused then the other 2 will melt you while you are killing him.RECOMMENDED BAN!

Note; If you are playing Ranked 3v3s back to back, and had trouble with a particular character, it would not be a bad idea to ban him in the next round because of the small player base in ranked 3s it is likely you will play the same team more than once.

Picks

Popular Picks as of 08/31/2011

AD Picks

God mode. You have 5 seconds to do as much damage as you can, If he's not banned MAKE SURE you get him.
Dash and Knockup is GREAT for getting across the fight and get that AP carry before he gets you.
WOOOOP WOOOP WOOOP - Can't be slowed, Can't be stopped. Alpha across the fight and rip that AP carry up.
Global Ult (Good for in the middle of teamfights after it's started), Get out of CC free card. AoE steriod. He's just good.
Mobility. Damage. More Damage. Utility. Lee sin is really a BRILLIANT AD Pick. He can jump almost anywhere when mastered and has good damage. He's a great pick
Slice + Dice + No Mana = Doing something right. If he's not banned and you can play him. Do it.
Spin to win. Crazy damage and good natural tanking skills. He can change a game.
The only exception to my 'No Ranged DPS in 3s' - Her traps are a great utility and her net lets her get away with a lot. She can be played in 3s if you're good and you have a great initiator.

AP Picks

EXCELLENT Burst Caster - His Pool takes down tanks and those tanky dps SO FAST.
GREAT Utility in her stun and with an AoE tibbers damage, using her right will garen-tee you the win.
Her assassin skills are excellent and her ult allows her to jump everywhere. Great as an AP Carry
AoE damage is good. An AoE stun is better. But an AoE STOP YOU CANT GO THERE is what makes anivia great. If you are losing a team fight you can just block them out, throw down your ult and let your team walk away.
She can and will insta death your squishy caster or AD carry. She is incredibly squishy though but her ability to triple jump/flash makes up for it. She can literally go from bottom lane to dragon in 2 seconds.

Edit: People have commented on how LeBlanc is too weak late game to be a strong pick. Twisted Treeline games are designed to be short. the VITAL action happens early game when LeBlanc is at her best. Her Ability to jump through walls and back and juke constantly is amazing and her burst is perfect for this map. Her only let down is her VERY squishy nature. But if she does her job right, they will be surrendering at 15mins.
His teleport makes him goood. He can escape anything and be anywhere. It's a viable option.
Brand is a good option his burst is almost as good as LeBlancs but he is focused on AoE damage. So Twisted Treeline is optimal for him but it works! He can dish out a stun and combo most the team as long as you play him well and use your ult when they are clustered it will be goood.
Sooo Underated. AoE stun, BUILT To take down their AP carry or AD carry, and his Meteor will rape face if he gets a little fed. Lacks escape but aslong as you keep your stun handy and follow the casting rules, you should be good.
Her crowd control shield is EXCELLENT to lay on your Physical carry and watch him rape face. Her Root + Pool combo also works real well in laning.
Morde. Metal giant of death. If he's not banned, get him, for obvious reasons.

Third Picks

His Ult can change team fights and secure kills, also the fact he doesn't use mana is a great bonus
Singed is unkillable. You turn your poison on run around everywhere, make them chase you, slow them if you have to, fling their AP carry right into your team. All is good. Pick him if you can.
Poppy is a GREAT anti carry and does a lot of damage, end game she gets really tough and can change the game.
UP YOU GOOO. 2 Distrupts and True damage ult, It's good to have a Cho.
Not as annoying as he used to be, but spamming his ghosts and giving your damned AD Carry an extra 5 seconds to wreck is a great way to turn the game.
Stun, AoE %HP reduction, AoE STUN ULT - Awesome pick. Do it if you can.
He's a decent jungler and counters AD pretty hard.
His AoE Silence is great for initiating and giving you a big head start or just shutting down their AP long enough for yours to do some damage.

Special Mentions;

Is a good pick, but in my opinion does not shine as much as others in TT. She is great in summoners rift but not as deadly in TT due to the short laning phase so her long range isn't put to great use. Her burst also doesn't compare to that of Brand or Annie so having no escape is risky.

Jax Jax Jax Jax. This man has caused possibly the most mayhem on Twisted Treeline. Why? He IS the counter. Tanky DPS and Physical Fighters have always changed the tide in TT and it is because of this, the current strategies are built around them. Jax IS THE ANTI PHYSICAL DPS. The more you hit him, the more he stuns you. He gets big health from his passive which allows a simple thornmail and his dodge chance put you and your other team mates to rest. He also does Magic Damage but dishes out physical too so is hard to counter build against. He is a great character and if you see them go Double AD team, try get this guy. He will change the game

Summery

There is a bunch of viable options for Twisted Treeline as long as you pick the right classes.

Unlike Summoners Rift, some things have changed, Ranged DPS are not very strong as you need somebody up in the action to let your AP Do its job.

Also; 3v3 is no place for a support. This is argued a lot but with the POSSIBLE exception of Karma, Don't ever play support in Twisted Treeline. Soraka, Sona, Janna, They just don't have the damage to compete and in having one you are sacrificing a vital role.

Jungling

Jungling is really tough, but it is a very good advantage if you can master it. There are ups and downs to jungling so everyones opinion on the matter will be different. We won't recommend jungling over not jungling but we will say that it is amazing if done correctly. It is not neccessary to have a full jungler if top lane does their job correctly, which is to push their lane then go clear out jungle and return to their lane in time to prevent them pushing to tower or to gank bottom for an easy kill with any buffs you've acquired.

Pros of jungling

-Much more experience gained early game, which is how the rest of the game is decided.
-Having any creep buff on your side during a team fight could turn the tides quite well.
-One of you will always be mia which will force the opposing team to either let their lanes get pushed or go into jungle to counter, making them lose the experience/gold either way.

Cons of jungling

-Due to TT being an awfully small map, 1 ward in the right spot and forgetting to check mias on the opposite team could very well result in a death for you.
-Bottom lane is very tough to 2v1 in TT, therefore bot lane will most likely be zoned and lose their xp and gold.
-Since the creep camps aren't for sure Wraiths or Golem/lizards, it is tough to create a definite jungling route and consistency is quite important when it comes to jungling.

Here are a few tips concerning the jungle of twister treeline if you decide to do so.
1. Your AD Carry should be Laning / Jungling / Laning / Jungling / Ganking / Laning at all times anyway and if you are running the double AD method it should mean that they get NO jungle at all.

2. The map is so small you shouldn't need to rely on a jungler to gank, this technique was brought across from summoners because its large map it needed a player not to be seen the whole time to have presence across the map. You can do this without a jungler in Twisted Treeline!

3. If you do decide to jungle, see where they place 2 champs, make your jungle path as far away from that lane as u can and make sure your team mates call mia's as SOON as they can.

Dragon

That's right... Ebonmaw gets his own chapter cause he's that deciding in 3s. For starters, he spawns at 4:30 and every 5 minutes after that. If you don't keep a timer on all the other creeps, be SURE to at least time dragon after every time it is killed. Just add 5 to the current time that's all it takes. Next, getting dragon stolen is the worst feeling and must be avoided as best as possible, because a fail dragon is usually followed up by an ace from the enemy team due to you being low from trying to get it. ANY AD CARRY CAN SOLO DRAGON AROUND LEVEL 8 WITH A WRIGGLES LANTERN. So if your team is getting killed bottom and you cannot make it there in time, take dragon and it is still a win for your team, getting dragon while still in laning phase will baffle your enemies, but by then it si already to late for them to do anything.

Preventing dragon from getting stolen

ALWAYS ward towards the top of the round bush closer to the enemies base before starting. If you can spare one person have them push the top lane and scare the enemies back a little bit. NEVER start to solo dragon with more then 2 or more mia. Stand in between dragon and the opposing enemy if you suspect they going to attempt to steal. Save you burst for the last bit of dragon.

Situation: you are Renekton soloing dragon and have the right bush warded, as you take dragon below half health you see Kennen walk into the right bush and wait there. He is obviously waiting until you are lower and can easily steal drag and kill you. Unless the other 2 are missing as well you dont need to back off. Simply walk in between him and dragon as casually as you can then build up 50 rage and save your burst (in this case ruthless predator) and escape spell (slice and dice here) until the end and burst down the last 15% before Kennen can even make a move and get outta there as fast as you can. If you do not have a burst and are playing a strong jungler, say Warwick, I recommend Smite.

NOTE: Be sure to initiate fights while your team still has that damage buff.

Laning

Twisted Treeline has a HUGE problem in the laning phase.

TWO PEOPLE USUALLY GO BOTTOM???

This is NOT how it should be. The Twisted Treeline map was designed to have 2 people top.

Just look at the map.

2 BIG bushes for the duo laners. Close to dragon to protect it. Protection from ganks from the jungler in top jungle.

So in ranked, or any normal game, if they have a jungler, throw 2 people top.

If they have 2 people bot then yeah, just follow along and do the 2 bottom thing but remember. You are MEANT to have 2 people top.

Annie + Nunu
The idea here is simple. Nunu and Annie camp in a brush, When an enemy(s) approaches Nunu starts his ult and they slow down as soon as they realize and turn around, annie stuns them with tibbers and then their life bar disappears. SO FUN.

Renekton + Annie
Renektons Gap-closing Stun lets Annie get a good combo off and deals tons of damage.

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!